Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Article 1, Section 5, Clause 11: Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Article I, section 5, clause 1 of the Constitution gives to the branches of the Legislature power to “judge” or determine whether an election of one of its members is valid and whether the person elected meets the Constitutional requirements for service. Without such a check, Joseph Story explained, “any intruder, or a usurper, might claim a seat, and thus trample upon the rights and privileges, and liberties of the people.” Joseph Story, 2 Commentaries on the Constitution §831 (1833).

The U.S. Supreme Court discussed this provision in a case challenging the House of Representatives’ decision to exclude Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. over allegations of corruption. In that case, the Court ruled the House could not exclude Representative Powell unless he did not meet one of the qualifications in the Constitution (age, citizenship, etc.). In other words, his exclusion was unconstitutional because the House had added a qualification not in the Constitution. See Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969). As stated in a later case: “The decision as to whether a Member satisfied these qualifications [those in Article I, section 2] was placed with the House, but the decision as to what these qualifications consisted of was not.” Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224, 237 (1993).

The next part of the clause deals with the quorum required to do business. The challenge here was to ensure that the requirement was not too much or too little but just right.

In the Constitutional Convention, Oliver Ellsworth, succinctly made the case that a majority should be required for a quorum: “It would be a pleasing ground of confidence to the people that no law or burden could be imposed on them, by a few men.” Philip B. Kurland & Ralph Lerner, editors, 2 The Founders Constitution 289 (1987); see also John Bryan Williams, “How to Survive a Terrorist Attack: The Constitution’s Majority Quorum Requirement and the Continuity of Congress”48 William & Mary Law Review 102 (2006).

On the other hand, a larger requirement might have had advantages but would have become unworkable. In Federalist 58, James Madison notes this and adds that if there were a more stringent requirement “In all cases where justice or the general good might require new laws to be passed, or active measures to be pursued, the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed. It would be no longer the majority that would rule: the power would be transferred to the minority.” This would happen because the minority could keep anything from being done.

As Congress now operates, the question of a quorum is not usually considered unless a member requests a quorum call, usually as a way of delaying the business of the body.

One very real threat to the quorum requirement would come if a number of members decided to flee or otherwise avoid attending the deliberations of Congress so as to prevent a quorum and keep business from being done. Of course this is occurring right now as members of the Wisconsin Senate have fled the state in order to prevent a quorum and thus the passage of legislation with which they disagree.

The Framers effectively countered such a threat by allowing a smaller number of legislators to compel their erstwhile colleagues to return. In the Philadelphia Convention, John Randolph and James Madison proposed adding this requirement on August 10, 1787, the day that the quorum requirement was debated. Kurland & Lerner at 290. If effectively applied, it can prevent a minority takeover of the power of the national government through inaction.

Yet another example of how current developments help us to see the wisdom and foresight of the Constitution’s drafters.

Mr. Duncan is director of the Marriage Law Foundation (www.marriagelawfoundation.org). He formerly served as acting director of the Marriage Law Project at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and as executive director of the Marriage and Family Law Research Grant at J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, where he was also a visiting professor.